How Coventry city council is providing shelter for refugees
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Version 0 of 1. Coventry has been one of the lead cities in welcoming Syrian refugees. At first, the city planned to accept 50 of the most vulnerable, but is now home to around 250 refugees – living in around 60 properties. Coventry is an International City of Peace and Reconciliation, with the ruins of the bombed cathedral a constant reminder of the horrors of war. So when the city was asked to provide shelter for refugees from one of the most savage conflicts of our times the response was how do we do this well? not should we do this? But resettling Syrian refugees is not without its challenges. Whitehall’s spending watchdog has warned that the future of the programme to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in Britain could be put at risk by a lack of 10,600 school places and nearly 5,000 suitable homes by 2020. The greatest challenges The availability of sustainable housing is our greatest challenge. We generally place refugees in private rented accommodation, but it is a constant struggle to find properties within local housing allowance; which is a calculation of how much housing benefit you can get to help pay the rent if you have a private landlord, and has different rules and restrictions to renting from a council or housing association. Furthermore, the benefits system applies to refugees just as it does other residents and the benefits cap will make life very difficult for some tenants. We have had only one complaint to the council about refugees coming to the city and this related primarily to access to NHS services. We have also had one incident of anti-social behaviour (graffiti), and the issue has attracted some negative comments online when the local media has reported on refugee resettlement. But these incidents have been massively outnumbered by the large numbers of local people who have gone out of their way to make their new neighbours feel welcome. This week we are talking to landlords and faith organisations about how we can work together to support new arrivals and increase the level of available housing now funding from the Home Office is more assured and sustained. Helping refugee children integrate Many refugee children have had long breaks in their schooling or none at all. Coventry schools have been the quiet success of our resettlement programme; they are used to admitting children who have little or no English. After a full term, primary aged pupils are usually integrating well and picking up English, after a full year the change is remarkable. Older children are more of a challenge. Colleges generally only admit refugee young people to study English and they have to be a certain standard to get accepted. We have placed approximately 70 children in school up to the end of the last school year and we are now working with the Positive Youth Foundation to provide more secondary spaces so more can be accepted into further education. Refugees have been through experiences which are hard for us to imagine, with some having been shot or involved in explosions and many having suffered imprisonment or torture. Almost all of our families have been forced to flee at short notice often with only the possessions they could carry. And most families are mums with children where the father is dead or missing and many have medical problems that need specialist care or routine treatment. Another frustration for many refugees is trying to be reunited with loved ones, such as older siblings who have been left behind. Access to language skills and employment The whole programme relies on interpreters provided by social enterprise Lingo Links. Very few of the adult Syrians in Coventry speak English on arrival and we have increased the amount of tuition available to help them become independent. Many Syrian people want to work as soon as possible and support their families and we are also working hard to help this. We are very pleased that some of our early arrivals are now in work. The overwhelming sense we have in the city is about how we have pulled together – voluntary sector agencies, schools, the police and NHS. Our faith communities have also been incredibly generous and supportive with the Bishop of Coventry and the Muslim community in particular making sure there is a warm welcome for refugees. Councillor Abdul Khan is deputy leader of Coventry city council. Talk to us on Twitter via @Guardianpublic and sign up for your free weekly Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with news and analysis sent direct to you every Thursday. |